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February 5, 2000
CELTICS 100, NETS 95
Nets Wilt Under Pressure Once Again
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By CHRIS BROUSSARD
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OSTON, Feb. 4 -- Trying desperately to spark change, Kendall Gill had challenged his Nets teammates over the past two days, saying that some of them lacked a killer instinct, that too many of them crumbled during the tense moments of a game.
And for much of tonight's contest against the Boston Celtics, it looked as if the Nets had been fired up by their co-captain's words. Playing effectively on offense and handcuffing the Celtics' best player, Antoine Walker, on defense, the Nets led by 9 points at halftime and pushed their advantage to 17 in the third quarter.
But when it was time to put a collective foot down, to end their seemingly endless string of close games, to display the game-closing ability that Gill had alluded to, the Nets choked in tremendous fashion.
Instead of running away with a needed victory, they shrank with fear, being outhustled and outscored, 30-13, in the fourth quarter of a 100-95 loss before 16,540 at the Fleet Center.
Leading by 82-70 entering the final period, the Nets shot 22.7 percent and were outrebounded, 21-6, over the last 12 minutes.
"Choke is the wrong word to use, but we didn't get it done," said the veteran reserve Johnny Newman, who scored 15 points off the bench. "We didn't have no toughness when it came down to it."
That has become the latest theme in this three-part series that is the Nets' season. Overmatched without Kerry Kittles and lacking team chemistry, they lost 13 of their first 15 games. Rejuvenated by Kittles's return and riding the coattails of Stephon Marbury's great play, they won 13 of their next 18. Now, lacking execution and apparently mental toughness, they have lost 6 straight contests and 9 of their last 11.
"It's a shame to play so hard and so unintelligently," said Coach Don Casey, whose team was led by Marbury's 20 points and 11 assists. "For some reason this team just knots up when it gets success. We didn't get big plays out of the big people. I don't know the answer."
With 47.8 seconds left in the third quarter, the Nets (17-29) seemed to have solved the Celtics (21-25). They had double-teamed Walker, who averaged 32 points over the two previous games against the Nets, to hold him to 6 points, and they had ridden their bench to a resounding lead.
But shortly after Newman's final basket, a 3-pointer, made the score 82-65, the Nets began to crack. Boston scored 5 quick points to close the quarter and gain the momentum.
Even so, the lead seemed too large for the Nets to release. But soon that was no longer the case. Tony Battie, a reserve forward who averages less than 19 minutes a game, and Walter McCarty, another reserve, who averages just 16 minutes, began grabbing almost every rebound.
Two minutes into the fourth quarter, the lead was down to 6. Then Walker came alive, scoring two baskets and handing out two assists, including a drive and dish that Battie turned into a dunk that tied the score, 86-86, with 4 minutes 53 seconds left.
Now, it was clear the game would go down to the final ticks, and the Celtics began to smell fear.
"When you're losing and another team has a run, you start doubting yourself, and I think they started doubting themselves," Boston's Kenny Anderson said. "We noticed a different mentality."
The Celtics were simply outhustling the Nets. Battie looked like an All-Star, scoring 9 of his 14 points and collecting all 5 of his rebounds in the quarter. Still, the Nets managed to go ahead by 95-94 on a 3-pointer by Scott Burrell with 1:18 to play. It was their last lead of the game.
Adrian Griffin, who last season was playing in the Continental Basketball Association, saved a Boston possession by flying out of bounds and knocking a ball off Gill's leg and out of bounds. Then, after Walker missed a shot, Griffin grabbed the rebound, which led to a 12-foot jumper by Anderson and a 96-95 Boston lead with 47.8 seconds left.
On the Nets' ensuing possession, Keith Van Horn got the ball in the post with Anderson, who at 6 feet 1 inch is 9 inches shorter, but failed to score on an off-balance 4-foot shot. Jim McIlvaine secured the rebound but had his shot rejected by Paul Pierce, who at 6-6 is 7 inches shorter.
"Kenny Anderson did a good job," said Van Horn, who had 10 points on 3-of-11 shooting and a team-high 11 rebounds. "He put his body on me and then right when I went up to shoot it, he released. He kind of caught me off balance. It was a bad shot."
The Nets' fouled Anderson (13 points, 8 assists) with 17 seconds to play, and he sank both free throws to make the score 98-95. With one chance left, the Nets set up for another inbounds play. Burrell got the ball to Gill at the top of the key. With Burrell on one wing and Marbury on the other, Gill was supposed to hand the ball to Marbury. But Burrell had scored 13 points and made 3 of 7 3-pointers, so Gill gave it to him.
With Gill and a Celtics defender in his path, Burrell hoisted an off-balance, off-target 3-pointer with 3.8 seconds left. Pierce hit two more free throws, and one of the worst collapses of the season was over.
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